What was the European Background to Colonization of North America?

A woodcut image of Florence in 1493

In order to understand the development of the United States, it is necessary to know something about the European countries from which a major portion of her people originally came. The Americans derived their basic ideals and institutions from the European background, although these were considerably modified during the experience of building a new society in the New World.

Throughout her post-Columbus history, in fact, the United States has remained an integral part of the modern Western, or modern Atlantic civilization that originated in Europe, growing from a handful of colonies on the periphery of the western world into its strongest power and the principal guardian of its cultural heritage.

This article will make you know the developments in Europe that triggered Colonization of North America.

European Background to Colonization of North America

The Growth of Trade

When the civilization of Europe first began to take shape after the chaos and barbarism of the Dark Ages, most of the population lived as peasants in isolated village communities. Society was dominated by unruly feudal aristocracy, and there was little trade or manufacturing. In a few areas, however, especially in Italy, there were cities inhabited by traders and craftsmen; and as conditions became more stable, the middle class slowly expanded and became richer and more influential. Especially important, both in promoting economic progress and, in the long run, in leading to the expansion of European civilization to other parts of the world, was the development of trade with the richer and more advanced civilizations of the Orient.

This was initially due mainly to the crusades, a series of military expeditions for the purpose of conquering the Holy Land from the Mohammedans. The first crusade, launched in 1096, set up the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem and was followed by commercial contacts with Asia. Europeans bought various manufactured articles and, more especially, pepper and other spices which would relieve the monopoly of a medieval diet.

Many of these commodities originated as far as to the east as India, China and Indonesia, and were transported by land routes across Asia to the Mediterranean seaports. There they were bought by merchants from Venice and other Italian cities and were distributed throughout Europe.

As early as the 13th century a few European merchants, such as the Venetian Marco Polo, actually visited China and brought back fascinating story of its luxury and sophistication. Favored by geography, the Italians were able to dominate the Mediterranean trade and collect heavy middlemen's profits. By the 14th and 15th centuries northern Italy was far ahead of the rest of Europe in wealth and culture.

Meanwhile, cities were developing and a wealthy middle class was rising to prominence in countries along the Atlantic seaboard. The accumulation of fluid capital in these countries made it possible to finance trading expeditions to distant lands in the hope of profits; and in the 15th and 16th centuries their merchants began to invest money in searching for direct sea routes to the spices and other riches of the orient. This was the principal motive for the voyages of discovery that resulted in the colonization of America.

The voyages were facilitated by certain technical advances. During the later Middle Ages navigation became easier as a result of several new inventions, especially that of the compass, while the introduction of gunpowder gave Europeans a decisive military advantage over other peoples they encountered.

European Background to Colonization of North America

The Decline of Feudalism

Another important factor in promoting the expansion of Europe was a change in the system of land-holding. The feudalism of the early Middle Ages had been a static form of social and economic organization in which the peasants were attached to the soil and had no freedom of movement. The functions of each individual were fixed by heredity, and there was little incentive for economic progress. The lands belonging to each village community were held and cultivated in common; part of them were set aside as the demesne of the lord, and the peasants were obligated to spend several days a week in working for him.

During the later Middle Ages this system began to be transformed by the increased use of money, a change which occurred especially rapidly in England. Instead of continuing to exact labor from the peasants in accordance with traditional practice, many lords found it more convenient to ask for cash payments. This process of "commuting" the customary services into money changed the feudal relationship of lord and serf into one of lord and tenant. It was usually advantageous of both parties, since the lord could now hire wage laborers to work on his demesne, while the peasants was no longer bound to the soil and acquired more personal freedom. At the same time the community lands were often broken up into separate farm properties belonging to individual families.

The effect of these economic changes was to give men more independence and mobility. In place of peasants attached to the soil, there were now growing numbers of free farmers and wage labors who could, if they chose, seek better conditions by moving to new countries.

Thus, while the growth of trade and merchant class led to the discovery of America, it was the disintegration of feudalism that enabled America to be colonized. And since the upper class, while surrendering its feudal rights, retained ownership of a large part of the land, along with extensive social and political privileges, men born into the poorer classes had strong inducements for seeking broader opportunities in a new world.

Down to the 19th century, in fact, the European structure of class privilege derived from the feudal background was a main cause for the migration of European peasants and workers to America. Thus feudalism had a vast indirect influence on American development, even though it was on European institution that was never transplanted into the soil of the United States.

European Background to Colonization of North America

The Rise of National States

While economic developments made Europe ripe for expansion, it was the political situation that made expansion actually possible. People could not have explored and conquered the New World if they had not been backed by the power and resources of strong national governments.

In the early Middle Ages Europeans had regarded themselves primarily as members of the Christian community and had not developed much sense of national differences. And while each country had its king, he had rarely been able to enforce his authority over the feudal lords. In several western countries, however, especially in Spain, France and England, there was a steady trend towards national unification under the rule of strong kings.

This growth of royal power was supported by the middle class, who wanted a form of government capable of enforcing law and order and protecting trade. They recognized that this could be achieved only through extending the authority of the Crown. By the end of the 15th century, in fact the kings of Spain and France had become virtually absolute rulers, claiming that they were responsible to God alone and could not be called to account by their subjects. Germany and Italy, on the other hand, did not develop effective central governments until the 19th century, and hence did not acquire American colonies.

The rise of national states was not wholly beneficial since it weakened the traditional belief in the unity of European civilization. People began to think of themselves as Spaniards, Frenchmen and Englishmen etc., and to give their main loyalty to their own government, no longer recognizing the claims of any broader ideal. This resulted in a series of conflicts between different nations which have continued into the 20th century.

But there can be no doubt that, by contrast with the anarchy of feudalism, the national state marked a step forward towards more orderly and efficient government.

In order to enforcing order, the royal governments supervised economic development in a most elaborate fashion. The notion that economic matters should be left to the free play of supply and demand had been wholly alien to medieval ways of thinking, and it had always been assumed that the authorities should control prices and wages and protect the general welfare.

Each of the new royal governments now assumed these regulatory functions and also sought to increase the wealth and power of its own nation at the expense of her foreign competitors. It was for this reason that they assisted merchants in searching for new trade routes.

This attitude of economic nationalism developed into the "mercantilist" economic policies that were adopted by all the leading European states from 16th to 18th century. According to mercantilist thinking, the nation should aim at economic independence, seeking to:-

1. Produce all necessities within her own territories.
2. Try to accumulate gold and silver by selling to competing more than she bought from them
3. She should lay special emphasis on the of any goods needed for new purpose.

Mercantilist economic policy was a most important factor in the colonization of America. Colonies were regarded as valuable because they could supply necessary raw materials not produced at home. After the discovery of the New World each of the new national states set out to acquire American colonies and monopolize their trade, and the consequent imperialistic rivalries led to a series of general wars.

European Background to Colonization of North America

Cultural Changes

These economic and political developments were accompanied by changes in men's intellectual attitudes and beliefs. The exploration of the New World was due not only to economic pressures and political ambitions but also to the growth of a new spirit of optimism, adventurousness, and self-confidence.

During the early Middle Ages all intellectual and aesthetic activities had been dominated  by religious belief, and the world had been regarded in gloomy terms. On account of human sinfulness, this life was not capable of much improvement and was primarily a mere preparation for life to come. The highest form of earthly existence was that of the monk who renounced all worldly desires in order to devote himself to the worship of God. Medieval ways of thinking, moreover, were unscientific, since nature was viewed teleologically; in other words, each natural object was defined in terms of the end or purpose which God had made it.

In spite of the otherworldly emphasis of medieval thought, however, its permanent contribution to the heritage of Western civilization should not be overlooked. The great Scholastic philosophers of the Middle Ages, fusing the Jewish, Greek and Roman elements in the European tradition, interpreted the universe as the creation of a rational Being who governed by law rather than by arbitrary fiat. Human societies, they believed, should conform to this divine law, which was also a law of nature and of reason; and it should be binding upon kings as well as upon their subjects.

Most medieval thinkers regarded monarchy and class privilege as in accord with divine law. But in spite of  their conservative inclinations they believed that power should always be limited. This doctrine of a fundamental law of God, nature, and reason has continued in different forms, to be one of the main principles of Western civilization down to the present day.

The American belief in the supremacy of law, derived immediately from the English political tradition, comes more remotely from the thought of the Middle Ages and of the ancient world.

As wealth and orderly government increased, the pessimism of medieval thinking gave place to a new emphasis on the potentialities of life in this world, the result being the many-sided cultural movement known as the Renaissance. Originating in the rich cities of northern Italy, where it led to a great artistic efflorescence, the Renaissance spread to other parts of Europe in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Its leading figures manifested an exuberant delight in intellectual and aesthetic exploration, and thought less of the salvation of their souls in an after life and more of the earthly immortality to be derived from fame and worldly achievements.

One of the main elements in the Renaissance was a revival of the literature and learning of ancient Greece and Rome, "Humanist" scholars turned back to the classics in order to escape from the otherworldliness of medieval thinking and recapture more optimistic views of human life. This led to a reform of education which had lasting effects. Idealizing the gentleman rather than the ascetic, the Humanists believed that education should promote a well-rounded development of all sides of human nature and that this could best be accomplished through the study of the classics.

Whereas in Italy the Renaissance led to much outright paganism, in England and other northern countries its chief manifestation was a Christian Humanism which placed the classics almost on a level with Bible and regarded the rational appreciation and improvement of life in this world as consistent with devout religious belief.

The chief figures of the Renaissance were the great artists and writers of Italy, Spain, France and Elizabethan England. But the explorers of the New World manifested a similar confidence in man's capacities and in the limitless possibilities of the material world. The culture of the early American colonies, moreover, was a product of the Renaissance. Their first American colonies, moreover, was a product of the Renaissance. Their first schools and colleges were imbued with the spirit of Christian Humanism.

Although the Renaissance was not primarily a scientific movement, it led indirectly to a new approach to the natural sciences. Before the end of the 16th century a few men were beginning to suggest that, by abandoning the theological emphasis of medieval thought and studying the causes of natural phenomena, it might be possible to increase human power immeasurably.

Interpreting the concept of natural law in a new way, they were beginning to see the material world as a complex of forces operating by immutable chains of cause and effect and to realize that exact measurement was the key to its interpretation. But the science were not placed on firm foundations until the 17th century.

European Background to Colonization of North America

Religious Changes

Even more important than the Renaissance in shaping the view of the early American colonists was the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic church had retained its authority down to the end of the Middle Ages, although it was admittedly corrupt ad in need of reform, while its claims to universality conflicted with the growing spirit of nationalism.

Early in the 16th century the Reformation was precipitated by the German theologian Martin Luther, and within a few years most of the countries of Northern Europe repudiated the supremacy of the Pope and set up their own Protestant churches.

The Catholic Church then rallied her forces, purified abuses through the Catholic Reformation, and endeavored to win back her lost provinces. For more than a hundred years much of Europe was involved in intermittent religious wars. When the spirit of religious fanaticism finally grew less-tense in the middle of the 17th century, the Catholic Church retained the allegiance of southern Europe and also of two northern people, the Poles and the Irish, while Great Britain, Holland, Scandinavia and northern Germany remained Protestant.

To a considerable extent the Reformation was a political; and economic movement, supported by men who wished to strengthen national independence and to strip the Church of much of her wealth. But it also introduced that conceptions of religious belief and experience and of church organization. Luther and other other early Protestant theologians did not share the optimism of Renaissance. They emphasized human sinful sinfulness in most uncompromising term, but insisting that man could be redeemed only if he felt a specialty in Jesus Christ, and that he could be redeemed only if a sincere faith in Jesus Christ, and that he could not earn salvation simply by obeying the rules prescribed by the Church, they made more individualistic.

After Luther the most influential Protestant leader was the Frenchman Jean Calvin a.k.a. John Calvin, who published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1534 and subsequently became the dominating figure in the city-state of Geneva, Switzerland. Calvin's view of the world was extremely gloomy. Denying free will and declaring that all men were predestined either for Heaven or for Hell, he regarded redeeming faith as the free gift of God to those whom he had elected for salvation.

Yet in spite of its severity, the Calvinist creed had a strong appeal to the middle classes; and when its adherents experienced what they believed to be redeeming faith and felt assured of their own election, they displayed as extraordinary moral energy and crusading fervor.

The ethical doctrines of Calvinism condemned worldly pleasures and amusements, inculcated industry and thrift, and promoted a kind of asceticism of daily life, as contrasted with the medieval asceticism of the monastery. God, it was declared, required man to work conscientiously at the business or profession to which he had been called. And whereas most other forms of Protestantism put the Church under the control of the secular authorities, Calvinism declared that kings and magistrates should be guided by the will of God as interpreted by the Church and that the Church consisted of the whole community of the elect, devout laymen sharing with clergy in its government.

Thus, while Calvinist ethics tended to sanctify the activities of the businessmen, Calvinist views of church government had revolutionary implications. Calvinism spread middle-class groups in France, England, Scotland, Holland and southwestern Germany, and led everywhere to rebellions against kings who refused to do the will of God as interpreted by the Calvinist churches.

In spite of the pessimism and moral severity of Calvinism, it made a great contribution to the progress of Western civilization. By teaching thrift and hard work, it stimulated economic growth. By encouraging revolution against impious rulers, it led indirectly to more democratic forms of government. And by requiring the individual to live strictly, constantly examining his conscience and regulating his behavior by the will of God, it promoted higher standards of personal integrity. The strict Calvinist was not very tolerant or warmhearted; but he was a man of strong character and a useful citizen.

Both Lutheranism and Calvinism, like Catholicism, believed that what they regarded as religious truth should be enforced by the secular authorities. But some other Protestant groups declared that religion consisted essentially of a mystical communication between God and the individual. They went on to argue that no elaborate church organization was required, that the state should not interfere with religious beliefs, and that force and compulsion in any form were inherently evil.

Some of them, such as the Anabaptists, repudiated all secular authority and looked forward to the rapid approach of the Kingdom of God on earth. These mystical sects spread especially among peasants, craftsmen, and other humble people in western Germany and Netherlands. Persecuted by the authorities and generally regarded as crazy and subversive, they foreshadowed the liberalism and humanitarianism of the future.

All these varieties of religious belief were bought across to America. The settlement of the American colonies was, in fact, greatly stimulated by religious dissensions. While the expansion of the Spanish and French colonies was hastened by the militant faith of the Catholic Reformation, represented by the friars who traveled through the forests and across the mountains to convert the Natives, some of the English colonies were settled by minority Protestant groups who wished to worship God in their own way.

While New England was founded as a model Calvinist community, Pennsylvania became a place of refuge for the English and German mystical sects. The institutions of all the early colonies moreover, whatever form of religion they professed, were products of a society which had a vital belief in an after life and regarded the propagation of true beliefs as man's most important duty.

European Background to Colonization of North America

Conclusion

Western civilization began to expand from Europe to other parts of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. From the above discussion we have come to the conclusion that, the period was marked by far-reaching changes in the whole economic, political, and cultural fabric of European society. The feudal institutions established during the early Middle Ages were disintegrated under the impact of commercial growth and the rise of the middle class, while the people along the Atlantic seaboard were organized into unified national states governed by strong monarchies.

Meanwhile, the otherworldly emphasis of medieval thought was giving place to the optimistic humanism of the Renaissance, as well as in the 16th century the authority of the Catholic Church was challenged by the Protestant Reformation.

All of these developments stimulated a spirit of individual independence and made men more mobile, more adventurous and more confident of their own power. All of them contributed to the expansion of European civilization to the Western Hemisphere.

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• History of the United States: Main Page
• U.S. History Timeline
• What Contributed to the English Colonization of North America?

What Was the European Background to Colonization of North America Sources:

1. Cheyney E.P. (1904), European Background of American History.
2. Jones H.M. (1964), O Strange New World.
3. Bolton H.E and Marshall T.M. (2015), The Colonization of North America 1492-1783.
4. Pagden A. (1993), European Encounters with the New World: From Renaissance to Romanticism.
5. Boorstin D.J. (1983), The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself.
6. Palmer S.H. (1988), Essays on the History of North American Discovery and Exploration.